The vote to kill the $275 per-employee tax — less than a month after the council approved it — represents a victory for Amazon and the other big businesses. Mayor Jenny Durkan is expected to make the repeal final by signing it into law.

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Roughly two hours after the City Council took up the proposal to repeal the head tax — less than a month after the council approved the tax of $275 per employee — the nine-member board voted to pass the measure.

The vote to kill the tax represents a victory for Amazon and the other big businesses that would have paid it and have been funding a referendum campaign against it.

Mayor Jenny Durkan is expected to make the repeal final by signing it into law.

.@CMLGonzalez says council chose head tax because members didn't want to further burden people with sales and property taxes. But… "I have … been unable to find a path forward in which we'd be able to … win this campaign in November"

.@CMMikeOBrien says head tax is "the best tool that we have … and yet I do not see a path." Says "I can't tell you how hard it is for me to say that publicly." Also says, "I do not have a replacement for you." Says he'll start work immediately on that

Social-justice advocates and homeless-services providers planned to rally at City Hall before Tuesday’s meeting.

The tax on the city’s largest employers is supposed to take effect in 2019 and collect about $47 million per year for five years, to fund low-income housing and homeless services. Durkan and the council have no immediate backup plan for raising that money, they said Monday.

Amazon, Starbucks and other businesses have been funding a signature-collecting effort to qualify a referendum on the tax for the November ballot.

The deadline for submitting the signatures is Thursday.

Daniel Beekman: 206-464-2164 or dbeekman@seattletimes.com; on Twitter: @dbeekman. Seattle Times staff reporter Daniel Beekman covers Seattle city government and local politics.